The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Choir is an adult group of men and women who rehearse weekly in preparation for Cathedral liturgical music, concerts, tours, and recordings. Using a well-stocked library of choral music, the choir prepares for every Sunday of the year at the 11 am Pro-Cathedral Solemn Mass, together with feast days and special occasions. Typically four or five concerts are given each year, including the Bach St John Passion on Good Friday and Messiah at Christmas. A wide repertoire has been developed.
Regular tours are undertaken by the group. Sometimes these involve three or four day trips to other parts of this country, such as the West Coast, the Blenheim-Nelson area, South Canterbury, or Otago and Southland. Invitations have taken the group to perform in prestigious music festivals, such as Mozart 91 in Dunedin in 1991, the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington, and the Christchurch Arts Festival. They performed in Palmerston North and Wellington the Bach B Minor Mass with Sacred Heart Cathedral Choir in September 2002.
As time permits, recordings are made for radio and television. 24 hours of television filming in 1988 led to a series of TVNZ Praise Be programmes. Another 12 hours in 1995 led to a further series, followed in 1997, 2010, 2014, and in 2002 by a special hour-long programme, and regular direct broadcasts have been made. Several cassette and video recordings have been issued in recent years. |
Bach B Minor Mass
Palmerston North Cathedral 2002
Christchurch & Wellington Cathedral Choirs
"..an improbable perfection"Evening Standard |
Schubert Mass in C
Oamaru Basilica 2005
Christchurch CBS & Dunedin Cantores Choirs
"..sensitive choral singing" Southland Times |
